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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/02/2019 in all areas

  1. Labor Day weekend trip to Canada with my wife and her mother. We departed Linden (notice the deer by the runway at high noon) and flew directly to Gatineau CYND just outside Ottawa in my Mooney M20J 201. We were met by Yves and his wife. Remember my return from my previous Canada trip where Yves invited me to fly his wing at Oshkosh while I coincidentally was flying over his house? Well, at Oshkosh, Yves and his friend Patrick invited me to their Casey camping fly in trip Labor Day weekend so I decided to go. We got dinner with Yves and Ned in a fantastic restaurant and were served by Yves lovely daughter. In the morning the weather wasn't too great so we delayed a bit. But early in the afternoon we set off to Casey in formation down low to stay below the cloud deck. It was a pretty turbulent day and combined with the low altitude, it just was not practical to maintain tight formation so we kept it loose. Casey is an abandoned Military airport in the middle of the Canadian wilderness northeast of Ottawa, northwest of Montreal. Once a year, the Canadians have a big get together by flying into this well-paved runway in the middle of nowhere. A few spend the night camping but most arrive as a day trip on the Saturday or Sunday for the barbecue event. We found wild blueberries and my mother in-law especially enjoyed collecting them. We watched the airplanes arrive by both land and water. Several seaplanes landed on the river beside the airport. There is no cell signal, phone service, electrical power, or anything out there. Only what you bring. So we enjoyed a night of camping and the barbecue and headed out the next day. The return flight required us to get above the cloud deck so I climbed IFR in uncontrolled airspace on my own until I got high enough to be able to reach flight service and file a return flight plan in the air. I couldn't file on the ground due to the lack of communications. Luckily I had already made my US customs arrangements in advance and stuck to my time slot so those remained active. A quick flight back to Albany and we cleared customs and then onward to Linden to conclude the exciting 3 day trip.
    7 points
  2. So much flying in the last month I haven’t been able to post on this thread. Oshkosh was a blast and look forward to next year! I went up this morning for a short flight to warm up the oil and decided to check out a close by short airport. I didn’t plan on landing but once I flew over it I figured it was doable. It’s now the shortest and narrowest airport in my log book. And probably as back country and tinny airport I’ll ever land at in the Mooney. My wing span being just over 6’ wider than the runway. Landing on 32 you are landing a little up hill but into rising no go around terrain. Another first for me in this plane. Exciting times, now to finish the dirty work.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    5 points
  3. Our mercy flight organization has had two A-36 Bo's. Both were/are prone to dropping on their tails if you're not careful loading. We had our bi-monthly meeting on Thursday and two experienced guys did the same thing AGAIN. Unfortunately, every time they do that you end up with structural damage in the back. One of our members, a long time Bo owner, acknowledged this HAS BEEN a problem on Bo's. I won't load heavier passengers without holding the vertical stab. I've even jumped on the wing to load myself from the front side sometimes. I agree with Erik on the seating too. There's no way I could sit for 4 hours in our Bonanza. I'm only 5'9", but my legs cramp because of the high seats, limited rail adjustments, and no room to stretch out. I have probably 300 hours of Bo time. I DO LIKE the plane. My hangar buddy and I were given the go ahead many years ago to find a second plane for our organization, after the purchase of a Seneca and us being the longest active pilots still stuck flying our own planes from lack of a twin rating. I took twin training, 6 hours to be exact, but thought this was crazy. The single engine plane I was building was almost twice as fast on about the same fuel burn and I'd never stay current enough to be safe in it. So...... convinced we would be buying an all weather well equipped Mooney, we ended up picking the Bo. More seats, pretty good speed and efficiency, rear door access for marginally mobile patients. It's been a great plane for the mission, faster and lower fuel burn than the twin, and better payload. It was 10 knots slower (the second one, turbonormalized) than my Rocket in the breathable altitudes on 3.5 gallons an hour less. I always wondered how that thing could fly that fast with those fat wings. Tom
    4 points
  4. I have heard some discussion regarding the advantages or disadvantages of the retractable step. While most will agree it is cool, some disagree as to the advantages. In a recent Facebook post I saw that someone had their vacuum system removed and has the step hanging out without detrimental effect. Before the electric step conversion, I had left my step hanging (original crank equipped aircraft) by accident and recalled noticing because my speeds were lower and the ball was slightly out. Anyway, decided to do some testing on a short trip yesterday and verified that it does make a difference. In fact, it was quite notable when paying attention to the numbers. I’ll call it an average of about 3 knots. I repeated putting the step up and down a few times and it was consistent. I made a rather crude video for those who must see: https://youtu.be/zOD2mXwcOIk. There are two reasons for the significant speed change. One is obvious, it is that the retractable step has zero aerodynamic abilities. It is a large square tube with an equally blunt step. The second is less obvious, but it is the effect of asymmetric drag on the airframe. Those who have left the step out may note that the ball on your turn coordinator will be ever so slightly out of center, requiring a touch of left rudder to counter it. Just like slipping a plane on final induces drag and gets us slower and lower, this slight slip slows our aircraft down. What percent of the drag is due to the step drag vs slip I’m not sure, but it clearly adds up. Mooney’s are especially sensitive to good rigging, as noted by some wide variation in reported performance. Modern Mooney’s have a more aerodynamic step, so Mooney opted out of the retractable step business in the late 60s. I think it would still be cool to have it retract, but it might be somewhat invasive. Anyway, would love to hear from others with detailed side by side speed comparisons of step up or down or on or off. While I am on the taller side, I still appreciate the step and I know my pax do as well.
    3 points
  5. To Wenatchee on Friday to see newest granddaughter and back home today. Missed all the Labor Day traffic.
    2 points
  6. I like Mooneys. I really do. I flew the 231 2.5 hours today giving refresher instruction to the owner. This was my airplane previously and would still be if it had 200 lb more useful load. When I was looking to upgrade Jimmy had an Encore I looked at. But it had about 1,000 lb useful load which just doesn't meet my current needs. There are some Mooneys with 1,100+ lb useful load but they are two to three times the expense of a slightly less efficient, slightly slower on slightly more fuel Bonanza. My compromise (we all compromise) was an S35 Bonanza.
    2 points
  7. If it occurred exactly as you said, the controller made a mistake - they are human too. Is it available on Live ATC? The controller should have given you an intercept to the extended FAC with that instruction, something like, "fly heading 180 to join the final approach course. Maintain 3,000 until established. Cleared for the..." so you could start the 1600' descent to 1400.. Even "Direct KEHSO, cleared straight in" might make sense. And yes, that is a heck of a dive and drive. If it happened that way, I'd at least file a NASA report; perhaps, if I had the audio, I'd call TRACON to discuss. But your completely unofficial advisory glideslope is irrelevant to the discussion.
    2 points
  8. Good calls! Hoffbrau haus and English garden boxes checked. Beautiful scenery too! Wave boarders fun to watch! 0B9F884C-0C37-4336-B4D8-59D6B536CCFB.MOV
    2 points
  9. I'm listening for any similar reports on Mooneys but all I hear is crickets :-) :-) This is actually the major reason I went Mooney over Bo 20+ years ago (in addition to the economy vs speed).
    2 points
  10. I ended up getting 1 of each #4-7 skybolts, then fit tested each hole. Then ordered what I needed. Just too much variance in a 40+ year old handmade machine. I replaced some of the lower cowling camlocs as well because the sizes weren’t correct. Tom
    2 points
  11. First time in Munich, you have to do the Hofbrau Haus. I went a couple of years ago after a 20-year gap and sat at the same table and nothing had changed. Yes, it’s where all the tourists go, but it’s still worth a visit imo. Bavaria is very pretty and worth renting a car for a day just to see the countryside. If I still lived in the UK, and had a Mooney, Munich would be a regular destination.
    2 points
  12. FF is one thing, but running it at 75% or even 85% power doesn’t shorten life as long as it’s rich enough to run cool.
    2 points
  13. The inspector and industrial are the ones to look at for in the cockpit use. The industrial pro has added features that we don't really need. The Industrial includes the vibratory alarm and the inspector doesn't. This is handy if you plan to wear it from airplane to airplane. If you are looking to Velcro to the panel someplace the inspector should be perfect. Sensorcon recommends calibration every 6 months to guaranty accuracy. Without calibration the accuracy could wander but by very little. If the actual ppm is 50 and we see 40 or 60 is no mater for us. If no calibration is done after 2 years you will either get an EOL warning at start up or Calibration Required warning. They will continue to work. Just last week I ferried a friends airplane and his gave the cal req at start up. During start up/taxi out it showed between 8-10ppm and mirrored the one I brought with me that I had just calibrated. I have calibration equipment as well as the Mooney Summit. If anyone not attending the Summit would like to send me theirs I can calibrate and send back. I would appreciate a small donation as I calculated each calibration costs me about $5 in test gas. Sensorcon gave me a new discount code to share that I don't have it handy right now. But as @Junkman shared above this labor day sale is a little better. I'll post the updated code next week. Cheers, Dan
    2 points
  14. You have 2 of the Mooney Pros, Inc. instructors close by who can help you really learn your new plane, its proper ops and assist you get the most from your ownership. Paul Kortopates @kortopates owns a 252 is an engine guru, A&P and @donkaye is just down the street, so to speak. You will be $$ ahead to get with them vs buying starter adaptors often, etc.
    2 points
  15. Burning Man kicks up dust on the Black Rock Desert. On Friday as seen from 45 miles south at FL240. It was the second day of our trip, overnight in Cheyenne. Stopped for lunch at Wendover Utah Those big runways were in 1945 the training site for the atomic B-29 squadrons.
    2 points
  16. Hi, I am the owner of Superior Panel Technology and a customer of mine that owns a Mooney recently purchased a set of FiberLites (fiber-optic instrument lighting system) for his Mooney and he informed me that he saw on this website a posting that Superior Panel Technology had gone out of business. This is FALSE!! We have been in business now for 20 years and going strong. Not sure where that false information came from. I hope this note gets posted somehow on this site. Every fly safe! Ken Whitaker Superior Panel Technology
    1 point
  17. To me, the feel of a Mooney C is that of a larger airplane. The maneuverability is not what I like about it. The PC system creates a "rock solid" feel in IMC that I really like. Trimmed out in flight, she'll fly straight and true for 30-60 seconds at a time, even in mild turbulence. With the Accutrak engaged in magenta-line following mode, I can slide the seat back to "economy plus" and pretty much enjoy the ride with occasional altitude adjustments.
    1 point
  18. Shhhh... I was trying a new “strategy” as he said ... his slower airplane with bad leg room is clearly better. And history of any problems was the pilots’ fault. He’s better looking and smarter too. I’m selling my mooney to buy a beech.
    1 point
  19. Hi Simon, I'm glad I could help. Honestly, by the time you were on your second time around cranking I already noticed. Made a comment like "there goes the starter" to my wife and she told me to go over and help you. However, I didn't want to be "that guy" and embarrass you in front of your passengers with unsolicited advice. But after I saw you continue to struggle, I realized that getting your engine started without frying the starter was imperative. By the time I got to you, the problem was that it was impossible to tell if it was starved or flooded because I could not know what you were doing with fuel beforehand. However, one thing I could tell (between the hour or two you spent on the ground and difficulty starting) was that you were getting vapor lock. One trick to turning the vapor gas back into liquid gas is to cool down the fuel lines with fuel. What you do is with the mixture at cutoff, run the boost pump on for about a minute to circulate liquid fuel through the fuel lines as coolant. Because the mixture is cut off, it will circulate but not flood your cylinders. Then, once done, do a normal prime and start. Since it was difficult to tell if it was previously flooded or not, a bit of extra prime to guarantee it is flooded and a flooded start at full throttle was the way to go. Also, that was a lot of cranking. It would have probably been better to go away for 10 minutes before trying again. In the future, if you can't get it started after a few tries, it really needs a cool down. Starters are pretty expensive to replace. Anyway, hope that helps. Just my four half pennies.
    1 point
  20. Fly any airplane that's airworthy today inside the design parameters and you'll be fine. Not a big deal at all. All of this talk about wings coming off Bonanzas and tails coming off are simply scare tactics and not relevant today.
    1 point
  21. Thank you - I agree this may have been the single best way to handle the situation if I could have come up with it in the moment. I've gotten more assertive with ATC in the modest 1.5 years of IFR experience under my belt (particularly when it comes to dodging weather), but my lack of confidence when I get an instruction that doesn't make sense is still hard to overcome sometimes - discussing with folks like you here helps a lot.
    1 point
  22. I would look at the vernatherm first, as others suggested. Is the cooler equally warm (top to bottom) after you land? If cold, you may not have flow there. There is a chance it needs to be flushed, but I think that is rare. If you open cowl flaps does it cool down? That might hint at a cooler or airflow issue vs vernatherm. As a side note, there is a Mooney SB regarding this. Beyond the radiant heating from your exhaust tot he cooler, apparently one benefit of this on the C is to keep the front exhaust pipe from cracking due to local cooling. Not sure how effective as the E never got one, but the pipe is further away.
    1 point
  23. I disagree. Here's why. @DXB is familiar. Even if not, in the scenario I know I am way high. My approach briefing tells me to expect lower earlier or even the IAF at MAZIE, but that could be traffic (although if I were a stranger, I'd be asking for lower). But my approach briefing* also tells me to expect direct KEHSO straight in (if a little earlier) or, at worst, an intercept to the FAC well outside. Direct PACKS, maintain 3,000 until PACKS makes no sense (speed brakes notwithstanding :D). It does not take a lot of time or arguments to suggest a heading to join the FAC. "How about 180 to join the FAC?" or even "how about a heading to join the FAC?" takes about the same amount of time as the "normal" readback. As it is, this is the kind of drive and dive which could easily lead to problems. Passengers ears hurting fro the rapid descent; going missed; maybe worse - that will be a bigger problem to busy airspace than a few extra seconds to clarify. * I see too many discussions suggesting he approach briefing is a bunch of numbers. Personally, I think the most important part of the approach chart is the plan view.
    1 point
  24. I too have been planning on making this video (to prove/disprove it to myself if no one else) using the AP to assist in credibility, but I have been too busy with IFR training. Perhaps next month... I really like the ability control the step with the flip of a switch...
    1 point
  25. Or the Boeing website was designed by a complete idiot. I suspect the latter.
    1 point
  26. Sounds like they wanted to lighten their workload. Speed brakes would come in handy, I probably would have cheated a little and just intercepted the leg a mile out from the FAF. Tom
    1 point
  27. Such dainty glasses, too! Gotta love Octoberfest . . .
    1 point
  28. Viktualienmarkt. It's where the locals go, is very centrally located, they have their own beer garden and you can do some shopping as well. Hofbrauhaus is, of course, something everyone should do at least once. And the Chinese pagoda in the English Garden like @Awful_Charlie mentioned is really great for food and beer. (Best tip for that- you will pay a 1 euro deposit on your beer glass that you get back when you turn in your mug. I might have lost my 1 euro deposit in exchange for my glass.)
    1 point
  29. I love how kind and gracious fellow MS members are. Especially in times of potential disaster. I'm proud to be an MS member.
    1 point
  30. Are those vortex generators?
    1 point
  31. I wonder if we aren’t making this more difficult than it needs to be. With the domestic form, we just entered the equipment codes for whatever equipment we had installed in the airplane. It’s really the same with the ICAO form. It seems the difficulty arises from the fact that modern navigation and surveillance equipment has a lot of capabilities, the details of of which may not be obvious to us because we really don’t need to know about them to operate the equipment. However, the capabilities are described in the required AFM supplement, and a bit of study will reveal the them and thus which ICAO flight plan codes to enter. Skip
    1 point
  32. It’s actually is factory. Many are lost or not installed correctly. It actually helps air not back flow through the back of the cooler. That’s why there is an STC to relocate it to the back of the engine. High pressure air can flow through the back of the cooler from the top of the engine. The plate keeps the air moving down and aft. Still a poor design, but if removed, I fear your oil temp would be worse. Feel free to try it. Ours was missing for years and I never did flight tests before and after. Now with your -900 you can get some data points. Personally I would like to duct the exit to the left cowl cheek panel, however I did the math and the exit area to work would be larger than a 3 in hose.... there’s not room for a 3in hose currently. -Matt
    1 point
  33. If the weather is good, try the Chinesischer Turm in the English garden - they serve traditional Maße (2.1 of your US pints)and pretzels there. Otherwise just about any bar will have what you want, but the Paulaner Brauhaus is close to the main HBF
    1 point
  34. ...right but when you are bragging....you can truthfully say 190, since it is capable to do it - and even without absurd settings - just more power than conservative.
    1 point
  35. Spend the 600+ it takes to fly down to the Summit next year and we will get your old one all fixed up for free You will get more than that back in education, food, networking let alone the great raffle ops and silent auction items. The memories of the trip alone will more than cover the 100LL bill. The Summit's calibration equipment disappeared sometime between Summit V and Summit VI. I guess we should get another setup sometime soon.
    1 point
  36. This is two of my deliveries in North Carolina hurricane relief, like Hank stated most of the singles took less weight. With the seats out I requested 600 lbs, With the seats out I couldn’t fit that much area. The Bo doesn’t provide a fair comparison a small block to a big block. My Bravo has UL of 1040, I’m 145 lbs, with 130 gallon tanks at 200 knots the lowly Bravo can cover 1200 nm in six hours in comfort.
    1 point
  37. I don't recall ever needing 270 lb in the baggage area but if you're comparing it to a Mooney that's an impossible comparison as it is 150 lb more than the Mooney can accept. But just for fun I plugged in some numbers. With me (185 lb) and a 225 lb passenger in the right front seat, full fuel (74 gallons) and 270 lb in the baggage area I'm below gross weight and within CG in all flight regimens.
    1 point
  38. No touch and goes; just much higher oil burn noticed after short hops. I’m the sole owner and operator and the person who checks and refills the oil. Engine has almost 2300 SMOH and I don’t fly it all the time. Another hypothesis could be that the time between use along with oil leaks could explain missing oil. Mine leaks oil but not quarts of oil. (I keep mine at 6qts). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  39. Clear any cookies associated with Mooneyspace.com. That will help sever any connection between a login ID and your browser. Or use an incognito browser window.
    1 point
  40. Go into account settings for each profile and make sure the email addresses are set as you wish. You might change EMB to another email account and also verify and or change aviatoreb to the address you prefer.
    1 point
  41. If the failure is in flight they will work with you as well
    1 point
  42. A nearby sight seeing around white face mountain near lake placid ny in the adirondacks. Of the 1932:1980 Olympics. with my son and his gf.
    1 point
  43. One of my fave additions so far has been the EI AV-17 voice annunciator, aka the GA Bitchin' Betty. My IFD also has some handy audio callouts, like the 500 ft callout on descent/approach. If the AV-17 speaks up at any time it immediately gets my attention, since it's usually quiet and is hooked up to useful things like the vacuum LED, engine monitor, gear warning, etc. Love that thing. I think she already saved me a motor when I forgot to open the cowl flaps on a taxi-back practicing GPS approaches at an untowered remote airport...as soon as the engine monitor tripped on the CHTs on climb out she spoke up. D'oh. Took care of that right away. I have to turn her off right after touchdown, though, or she won't shut up about the vacuum being out of range at idle. So one of my critical takeoff/climbout/go-around checklist items is to make sure she's turned on. Looking forward to deleting the vacuum system entirely, though.
    1 point
  44. Dinner with Yves and Ned, the royal Canadian Mooneyforce. Flying out formation aerocamping in the deep Canadian wilderness with Yves when the weather improves.
    1 point
  45. This thread has gone tangential on a level that is impressive even for MS. I had to scroll back up and look at the title to remember what thread I was reading...
    1 point
  46. Thanks! Go ahead schedule it and get it done. I was amazed at the lower cost with a study buddy who did the rating at the same time. Sitting in the back seat was like getting extra training at zero dollar cost. Also, having a study buddy over the weekend to go over procedures, knowledge, systems, concepts, it helped. -Seth
    1 point
  47. I think you all need to go back and re-read what I wrote. Look, yes your local chapter has embraced formation flying. You practice and train with the same guys, in the same airplanes. As I said in my OP, that is the way you do it. What we have right now in these "caravan arrivals" is a group of people who have briefed, but not flown much together very much but know "the rules of the road" so to speak. Knowing is not execution and execution is not proficiency when you don't do it over and over again. Further is the practice relevant? Sure you can fly formation but now add the stress of a NOTAM'd arrival procedure and you got more plates in the air. It is like how often airline pilots come to grief on their retirement flight. Sure you can fly the airplane, sure you can do a low approach gear up, sure you can, but add the emotion of the moment and things go wrong, fast. Point is this, formation flight, with unfamiliar squadron mates into a high threat environment requires a higher level of formation flying skill that I don't see in a lot of these "caravans" which is why I won't participate. Because it has not yet happened? I don't know what to say to that in a safety forum. That is just really flawed in the world of safety. I haven't crashed in 28,000 hours and 50 years of flying, but tomorrow is a whole new day with its own risks and threats. Closing the barn door safety, is not my idea of safety. Safety is pro-active not reactive. What WAS the catastrophic result? That is not the question. The question is what COULD have been the result and how do you minimize that risk. Just because you tickled the tiger's tail does not mean it won't eat you next time, ask Roy Horn.
    1 point
  48. I’ve always gotten fuel at LOL and the FBO building is air conditioned with clean bathrooms and cold drinking water. It was always a very popular place to go with “Burners” who wanted an airplane ride. And it’s closer than Reno Stead.
    1 point
  49. the Annual "Inspection" isn't horrible. $1600 in 2017 also had new plugs installed, prob not nec but plane was new to me so $1900 total. $1680 in 2018 another no squawks annual, did mention rod ends and baffles may need attention soon. $1600 in 2019 plus the following: new aileron rod ends new rudder rod ends Landing gear shimmy ( prob could've just bought a new tire ) $3k total. but had to have surefly installed so another 2k $5k total. I never have the oil changed at Annual. I end up doing it like a month before annual. i'll never admit to the cost of the other way more expensive things i've had done. note pay in cash so the wife doesn't see it on the credit card statement
    1 point
  50. I have the receipt in front of me for my 2019 Annual: $1591.62 USD Annual Inspection $1360.00 Hardware Installation/Replacement 1.5 hours at $70/hr $105.00 Phillips X/C 20W50 $43.00 Induction Filter BA6108 $10.85 Champion Oil Filter CH48110-1 $26.75 Tempest Garter Filter ARB3-5-1 $2.90 Rapco Filter RAD9-18-1 $19.50 Shipping $24.47 That was the annual. Now add 3-hours to R&R the attitude and heading indicators ($210.00) plus the bill from Aircraft Quality Instruments ($1081.00) you can see how the overall cost of the bird going to an Annual inspection can get pricey. I had to get the instruments overhauled to rule-out a serious issue with my Century IIb autopilot -- which did fix the uncommanded roll issue. This was my cheapest annual inspection ever as last year I added on overhauled magnetos, SCAT and vacuum line replacement, etc.
    1 point
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